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[hider=The Harmony of Wo][hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Species Description[/color]:[/b][/center]

The Wo are a transcendent species. Once, they were large, bulky humanoids with four upper limbs, but now they are not so constrained by the limits of the flesh. Having made the irreversible decision to transfer all of their minds into a massive electronic network, they are now an entirely mechanical, almost unliving race. As such, their individuals, being AI's now - although they refuse to be called such a derogatory term - may now enjoy all sorts of physical vessels via mind uplink, from simple bipedal walkers that allow a Wo to take some time away from the constant stream of information they receive every nanosecond in the network, to gargantuan, awe-inspiring battleships that have been built to protect the sanctity of the Harmony. As the Wo have mastered modular engineering to the micro level, the only standardized designs are those of starships and other large constructs, and every other physical platform is extremely varied and personal. All Wo, being untouchable outside of their homeworld, see warfare as a mere game as a result.

The Wo are [i]not a collective consciousness or a hive mind.[/i] Each Wo has kept his or her individuality intact after ascending.

Their faces were humanoid in appearance, possessed of distinct eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears. Four arms sprouted from four shoulders. Their skin tones were incredibly varied, and individual Wo sported any two hues of any intensity from the blue-purple portion of the visible spectrum.

The Wo of today are able to create platforms that mimic almost completely their former biological selves. Such platforms are made to be as aesthetic and as physically perfect as possible, consistent with the Harmony's philosophies of physical perfection and the form of the body. They take quite some time to create, however, as they are modeled after individual Wo, so such bodies only available to diplomats and ambassadors so as to soothe other races during negotiations.

International representatives of the Harmony are almost entirely female.

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Area in the Galaxy[/color]:[/b]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/xsaOvoI.png[/img][/center]

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Technological Description[/color]:[/b][/center]

As stated above, the Wo are an entirely mechanical race, having made the decision to transfer their minds into a massive electronic superhighway that they have named the "Harmony." The main infrastructure of this network is in their homeworld of Hi, a former terrestrial planet now made artificial with conduits, transistors, and tectonic plates of metal covering the entirety of its surface. Whereas once it radiated organic warmth, now it buzzes with electric energy and exudes the cold confidence of plasteel alloys. The entirety of the Wo race lives on Hi, whose location is kept from other races in total secrecy. Offworld endeavors are conducted via relay stations that allow the Wo to project their consciousness outwards to control the appropriate vessels. In the event that a mind tether is cut, most small Wo constructs - and all of their larger creations - have built-in, simple AI's that allow them to function to a limited extent.

The Wo are masters of engineering, and have no qualms with stripping whole planets bare of resources if it means bettering the Harmony in one way or another. Their refineries and smelters are almost perfectly efficient, and their assembly bays so powerful and versatile that retooling to create something different is but a mere thought away, a command to switch modes. This is only for smaller constructions, however, and the individuality of the Wo can be seen in the great variety of their roughly human-sized physical platforms. Larger objects, such as starships and mining facilities, require dedicated shipyards and prefabricators, and designs of such size are standardized. The Wo build their things to be as modular as possible, to make retrofitting and upgrading easy. It is needless to say that they have a deep understanding of metallurgy.

Their main method of energy production is Fusion technology. Physical platforms make use of compact and highly efficient batteries that allow them to operate for weeks without recharging.

Where weapons are concerned, the Laser is king for the Wo. They adore this line of technology because of its scalability: the techniques used to create a Laser Rifle can also be used to create a battlecruiser's main gun battery, only on a larger scale. The Wo also make use of shielding technology and their armor schemes are decent, but the currently reigning military theories in the Harmony conclude that offense is the best defense - and so, to face the Wo in combat is to experience massed laser batteries pouring sustained and intense fire at you, but the vessels doing so are relatively frail.

The Wo mainly use wormholes as their method of faster-than-light travel, due to their need to keep their minds tethered with their creations. As they hold their lives dearly, individual Wo refuse to transfer their whole consciousness into such fragile things like starships. If the Wo must expand in any great capacity, they must transfer infrastructure from Hi onto another planet or other suitable object - but what kind of madman would want to leave Home?

They are also extremely adept at technologies centered around deceit and misdirection - electronic warfare, cloaking and signature masking. This stems from their fear of their homeworld being found. A minor penetration of Wo space will see one's instruments malfunctioning coupled with visual and audio warnings to turn back, but delve any deeper and dedicated AI-killer programs will attempt to force their way into the trespasser's computer architecture and destroy it as best as they are able. Systems critical to the operation of a ship, such as life support, engines, and fire control are prime targets for such viruses. If these do not take care of the intruder, then they will be engaged by a powerful Wo Battlefleet.

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]History[/color]:[/b][/center]

The galaxy at large knows but little of the Wo's history due to their reluctance to share information about themselves. The common belief across empires is that the Wo have always been mechanical, either made by another race or the result of rare, but natural, circumstances. These rumors are, of course, untrue: the Wo were once a race of organic, bipedal humanoids with four upper limbs, and a short tail indicative of their semi-reptilian ancestry. Their women were slender and graceful, while their men were large and strong. They were a race that admired physical development and self-improvement above all things, and their religions and beliefs were centered around this. Of the arts, the martial ones were the most numerous. And for a time in an era now mostly forgotten, when the still-verdant world of Hi revolved serenely around its mother star for years and years, the flags that partitioned her continents, islands and archipelagos often featured a sword or two. In this bygone age, the Wo reveled in their own mortality, aspiring to experience all physical pleasures. They were an arrogant, foolish and hedonistic species prone to narcissism and degeneracy. These traits would remain with them forever, but with the steady and exponential growth of the sciences, the manner in which these characteristics were expressed would radically change.

The ushering of an industrial revolution and great advances in medicine triggered a massive baby boom for the Wo. As the Empires of Hi entered the modern age, they experienced the problem of overpopulation. High literacy rates and the similarity of languages across the globe dissuaded any global war from culling significant numbers of Wo, and the scientific and governmental elite attempted to install a policy of birth control. However, as Wo culture revolved around mortality, physicality and pleasure, this was mostly ignored. So it is fortunate that they developed computing technology remarkably early, or the Wo today might not exist as they are.

Food shortages were soon becoming a problem. Many times did governments have to step in, opening the stockpiles, and feed the people out of their own hands. The problems that come with unsustainable population growth had finally caught up with the arrogant Wo, and parents realized that yes, maybe having five children as a minimum number was quite bad in some ways. Alleviated to a point with the introduction of genetically-engineered agriculture, the most stunning development was that of artificial intelligence - and more importantly, the ability to become one.

Unpopular at first, the notion of installing yourself into the Pathways - their planetary electronic highway - gradually became a socially accepted norm, because one becomes a god in the electronic plane once they make the switch. No longer limited by the flesh, the Wo in cyberspace can now fly, make love, and rule in their own, personal universes. If, for some reason, they ever wanted to leave, advances in engineering allowed for personal bodies that completely mimicked one's biological form and senses, except their function was wholly mechanical.

A leveling off of population growth was finally met by catching up agricultural technology. For the first time in several decades it was quite safe for any couple to make five or more children again, as food was no longer an issue. At this point, however, their civlization's hedonism was fully in-love with cyberspace, to the point where they equated uploading your mind into it as some sort of divine or spiritual ascendancy. When a full quarter of all living Wo existed as ghosts traveling in massed circuitry, the Pathways were renamed to "the Harmony."

Afterwards, the transition to being a fully electronic and mechanical race was a quick one. It was a social imperative: if you were still organic by this point, you were looked down upon. The lure of the pleasures that awaited in cyberspace was also strong. As the first Wo starships began to leave Hi in order to mine minerals and gather resources to feed the incredible power drain of the Harmony's infrastructure, men and women came in droves to Shrines of Ascendancy to give up their bodies, intent on becoming something more.

In the end, Hi's forests, lakes and oceans were destroyed as a new life - that of the machine - slowly consumed its surface. And the species that it nurtured with its own bosom, the Wo, had given up their souls to become gods.

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Government Description[/color]:[/b][/center]

The Harmony is, surprisingly, a [i]republican democracy[/i]. They are not a hive mind or a collective consciousness that operates on absolute mechanical consensus. When they gave up their organic forms to become complex AI's, the Wo never sacrificed their lives, only enhanced it. As they are a race that revels in pleasure, most of them would rather play in their own personal universes within cyberspace rather than do anything productive. The few that care about the prosperity and welfare of the Harmony beyond a nominal point are elected to positions of power: to guide the explorer fleets, to command the battlefleets, to oversee the production lines and to otherwise better the Harmony in other capacities.

Their most important ministers are as follows. They hold these offices for terms of ten solar years - a millennium for the Wo:

[i]The Most Harmonious One[/i] - Head of State and Government
[i]Destroyer of Barbarians[/i] - Minister of War
[i]Giver of Life[/i] - Minister of the Economy
[i]Hand of Creation[/i] - Minister of Construction and Production
[i]Starwalker[/i] - Head of the Exploration Fleets
[i]The Most Serene One[/i] - Ambassador and Primary National Representative of the Harmony. This position is held by [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/92344-sollus-supremus-dune-like-space-opera/ic#post-3423392]Wen Ten Xei[/url].

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Cultural/Religious Description[/color]:[/b][/center]

The Wo are self-centered hedonists. Perhaps it should not be surprising to learn, then, that they are also atheists. They hold joy and pleasure above all, and being the masters of their own universes in cyberspace, no experience is beyond them. They are limited only by processing power, which is distributed by The Most Harmonious One in quantities depending upon the importance of one's task at hand: battlefleet command, for example, will give one more computing power to work with than if you were, say, having a fantastical tryst with another Wo.

Though wasteful in virtual space, they are, in contrast, very pragmatic and utilitarian in realspace. As stated before, they are very efficient and highly skilled engineers. Nothing less than perfection is expected when improving or adding upon the Harmony's infrastructure.

Within the world of the Harmony, where anything is possible, they may do whatever - or whoever - fancies them at the moment. In virtual space, they take on idealized forms of themselves before they ascended:  the men are large and handsome, rippling with muscle and exuding masculine confidence; the women are well-endowed and beautiful, elegant and graceful - although there are some Wo that would deviate from this norm. They are able to replicate these perfect bodies in realspace through their sheer mastery of engineering, and such are their diplomats and ambassadors' preferred forms. They do understand that applying the same aesthetics to combat platforms in the event of war is profligate, and will not waste resources trying to make their soldiers look good; their fighting units are truly mechanical in appearance.

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]Diplomatic Relations[/color]:[/b][/center]

The Wo are very uncommon trading partners to the other empires of the galaxy, even for the Inner Sphere Union. This is due to their philosophy of self-sufficiency and, as they are mainly electronic ghosts at this point, they simply do not need finished goods. As such, their imports and exports have invariably been raw materials of usually great rarity and small quantity. They are so isolationist that there are many extranet forums dedicated to finding information about them, and writing up creepypasta about their space too, of course.

The Galactic Council is the first time that the Wo have voluntarily and so openly stepped out of their space to interact with other empires. One could say that only now is the Harmony establishing formal diplomatic relations with the rest of the Galaxy. Prior exchanges have been inconsequential or covert in nature.

Diplomatic relations with other empires are at an infantile stage where much of the more significant interactions between ambassadors are handshakes.

They view the Jalaryias Ascendancy with hatred, as that nation sees them as abominations - demons, even.

They are active in galactic politics as they are covertly supporting secessionist, often nationalistic groups within the Kurtiye with the hopes that the large state would fracture into smaller, easier to manage ones. They have done this for quite some time already.

Overall, the Harmony's interstellar espionage operations are still in infancy. Their covert movements regarding the Kurtiye are their first foray into such affairs.[/hider]

[hr][center][b][color=#A0B9FF]The Harmonic Military[/color]:[/b][/center]

With regards to vehicle and starship aesthetics, for cultural reasons they are always circular or spherical in shape unless otherwise stated. Think of the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star from Star Wars.

[hider=Unit Types of the Army]
[b][color=#A0B9FF]Unit Types of the Army[/color]:[/b]

The Wo have no ground vehicles. Instead, they have super-heavy infantry that are roughly their equivalents.

[b]Warrior[/b] - The most common type of ground unit the Harmony fields, and also the most crude. These are robotic simulacrums of individual Wo with a variety of armaments based all around Pulsed Laser technology. Their heavy machine gun equivalents may switch to a mode that slows down the fire rate to a great degree so that it may develop a higher charge, thereby turning the gun into an anti-tank weapon. Warriors usually have non-energy daggers and short swords for melee weapons.

[b]Champion[/b] - These Wo fill in the roles of junior to mid-grade officers and non-commissioned officers. They sport the usual Pulsed Laser Rifle along with melee weapons that serve as their badge of office. These could be anything from staves to swords to halberds, and usually, they are energy weapons. Their metal bodies are decorated in many ways, from adulant poetry written upon their vambraces, to luxurious capes that flow to an unseen wind.

[b]Guard[/b] - Uncommon super-heavy infantry whose pilots are those military Wo who have mastered the martial arts before ascending to the Harmony. They are half again as large as the average Warrior and sport thrice as much firepower, even with their lack of ranged weaponry which is forbidden by their exclusive peerage. So they make up for this with the privilege of being the only soldiers granted the use of experimental short-range personal teleporters. Their main role in the battlefield is to engage the enemy in close combat, using their heavy armor to shrug off attacks, and their massive blades or hammers to cleave away several foes at once in order to achieve a breakthrough which could then be exploited. These energy weapons are potent enough to defeat enemy armor, such as tanks, to which the Guards themselves are equivalent to.

[b]Hero[/b] - Legendary military personnel who are given the best, custom-built robotic bodies. Clad from head to toe in scriptures of poetic adulation and praise, their gilded forms of silver and gold inspire the Wo under their command to brazen, almost suicidal actions. Individually as strong as three Guards put together, they are also understandably rare. Heroes command units from brigade equivalents to whole armies. The higher the sub-rank of the Hero, the more potent he personally is at combat. All Heroes are Guards, and so they are forbidden by oath to carry ranged weaponry of their own.

[b]Shadow Warrior[/b] - These are Wo who have walked the Path of Shadow. Armed with close-combat energy weapons, extensive cloaking and signature-masking equipment, they are an uncommon force on the battlefield. Their role is to assassinate enemy commanders - a task for which they are specifically trained.
[/hider]
[hider=Unit Types of the Air Force]
[b][color=#A0B9FF]Unit Types of the Air Force[/color]:[/b]

Individuality and variance are not so present beginning with units of this size, as the cost of construction necessitates varying degrees of standardization. The Air Force, as opposed to the Voidforce, is dedicated to supporting the Harmonic Army during surface combat. All Air Force personnel are Champions or of higher rank. All Air Force units possess superior electronic countermeasures and decoy equipment compared to that of other empires.

Air Force Units are launched from the hangar bays of starships in orbit, or from dedicated bases when enough territory has been secured planetside.

[b]Pelican[/b] - Large troop transports that are able to carry up to 500 Wo soldiers rapidly to any area on the battlefield. They are armed only with rapid-firing pulse lasers for nominal fire support at landing zones.

[b]Lesser Eagle[/b] - Dedicated interceptors that may also provide limited ground attack, they are usually armed with rapid-fire medium pulse lasers and boast great speed and maneuverability. They are equivalent to the fighters of any other empire. Lesser Eagles excel in dogfights.

[b]Greater Eagle[/b] - These are heavy fighters that boast a mixture of lighter, rapid-firing pulse lasers and heavier, slower-firing ones. Fast and bulky, they excel in boom-and-zoom tactics, but are not very maneuverable. They also make for passable air support for ground units via strafing.

[b]Lesser Hawk[/b] - Light bombers that are armed with continuous lasers, as opposed to pulsed ones, that are meant to rake across enemy unit formations or focus on specific ground targets. The lasers are able to melt and defeat even the heaviest tank armor given enough time. Unlike Eagles, which continually move, Hawks hover on the battlefield. They fulfill a Close Air Support role.

[b]Greater Hawk[/b] - Medium bombers that are equipped with a mixture of lighter, rapid-firing pulse lasers and heavy continuous lasers. Uncommon, these powerful units are sent to areas of the battlefield where a breakthrough is required or, conversely, when the enemy is about to break through. They fulfill the role of Tactical Bombers, and, like their smaller siblings, hover instead of zoom through the air.

[b]Unrelenting Dragon[/b] - Massive sky fortresses that are able to function both as a heavy breakthrough unit, and as a mobile base for both ground and smaller air units. At almost 400 meters long, their main crew members are composed only of Guards. With many batteries of heavy pulse and continuous lasers, they are a terrifying foe indeed. They are even able to take to space - however, they were designed with surface operations in mind, and so will not perform as adequately as dedicated starships; damage control is particularly difficult if they are hit in extra-atmospheric conditions. Unrelenting Dragons hover serenely in the air but leave a molten hellscape in their wake.
[/hider]
[hider=Unit Types of the Voidforce]
[b][color=#A0B9FF]Unit Types of the Voidforce[/color]:[/b]

The harshness of space as a medium of travel necessitates the complete standardization of Harmonic starships. Gone are the variance and individuality of lesser Wo constructs save for the choice of different weapon mounts for those who have distinguished themselves. All Voidforce personnel range from Lesser Champions at the minimum to Heroes at the maximum. It is in this branch of service that Guards are common.

Harmonic starships are crewed by only a single Wo, whose consciousness is tethered via wormhole relay to their ship's computer architecture.

Harmonic military doctrine emphasizes three things: control of the pace of battle, the attainment of fire superiority, and the accomplishment of a decisive victory. As such, there is a common trait among all their larger starships of cruiser weight and heavier: they pack a far more deadly punch than their equivalents from other empires, but are also more fragile. Therefore, Wo designs excel in ambushes and the opening stages of a fleet battle, but will suffer in prolonged combat.

Everything of cruiser weight and heavier is possessed of substantial electronic warfare suites, with potency increasing with the tonnage.

All Wo ships have hyperdrives, but these are of vastly inferior and meant for emergency usage or closing into the enemy or some other point. Wormholes are their main method of travel.

[b]Relay Station[/b] - THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT UNIT OF ANY HARMONIC EXPEDITION, as they perform two vital roles: one, the facilitation of the rapid deployment of forces via wormholes due to the inferior quality of Wo hyperdrives; two, the assurance of the very existence of the expedition in the first place because through that wormhole is deep Wo space, and mind-tethers are sent out from the other relay stations there, tracing back to the Homeworld, to connect with any given outbound force's units. The range of the tethers is quite long, more than enough to allow stealth and covert operations. It is needless to say that these are among the most guarded and cloaked constructions in the entire Harmony, a secret second only to the location of Hi. Wo in foreign stations pretend that they don't even exist. Disclosure is punished by Death.

A single relay station allows command and control in an area of approximately the same size as our real-life Local Group of Stars.

[b]Blazing Phoenix[/b] - These are the Harmony's dedicated interceptors whose role is to defeat opposing enemy starfighters. They are large craft, almost 30 meters long, and they boast heavy pulse lasers with hardpoints for missiles with nuclear fission warheads.

[b]Swooping Crane[/b] - These strike craft fulfill the role of Bombers. At 40 meters long, they are rather heavy craft, but their payload is deadly: great torpedoes carrying nuclear fusion warheads that travel at blinding speed towards their target. With thinner armor compared to equivalents from other empires, they are also faster, and their main targets are capital ships, as dictated by current Harmonic doctrine.

[b]Implacable Dragon[/b] - At 400 meters long, these fill in the role of Corvettes. Unlike their cousins the Unrelenting Dragons, they are true voidborne craft, armed with a heavy laser battery as well as nuclear torpedoes. These ships are geared towards defeating foes of equivalent size but suffer against greater opponents. Fast and nimble, they are also able to perform independent operations as merchant raiders.

[b]Great Destroyer[/b] - These ships are 800 meters long and fill in the role of corvettes within the Harmonic Voidforce. Built to be fast, they are thinly armored but sport a bristling array of laser batteries and nuclear torpedoes. Excellent as merchant raiders or as extra firepower in the battle line, these ships are the backbone of the Wo Fleet, and will be present in every engagement, small or large.

[b]Demonic Harbinger[/b] - The light cruisers of the Harmony's space fleet size in at about 1.5 kilometers long. Sporting decent armor and shielding, they pack thrice the firepower of a destroyer and can often be seen leading a squadron of them. Compared to the destroyers, their laser armament is given more space and priority than their torpedo mounts. They are also unique in that they have a special storage bay for 80 Guards who can use their teleporters for boarding actions. They are the backbone of Hi's defense.

[b]Skyward Sword[/b] - These fulfill a heavy cruiser role for the Wo space fleet, clocking in at 2.5 kilometers long. Intended to be part of the battle line, such ships have completely forgone torpedo armament in place of more laser batteries. Very versatile, they are often used as flagships for smaller expeditions. They are able to do boarding actions with their 150 Guards on board.

[b]Cosmic Spear[/b] - Often the vanguard of any Harmonic battle fleet, these ships are almost 4 kilometers long and fulfill a battle-cruiser role. True capital ships unto themselves, they are able to shrug off plenty of fire with their heavy armor and dense shield generators. In addition, they sport heavy laser batteries worthy of their majesty.

[b]Strike Craft Carrier[/b] - These are the Harmonic Fleet's strike craft carriers, possessed of a light laser battery and hangars capable of fitting 500 fighters and bombers. They are only 1 kilometer long, and unique in that they do not possess a proper, poetic name due to the Harmonic military's low view of them.

[b]Solar Flare[/b] - True architectural marvels and a blatant display of the Wo's skill in many fields of engineering. At a staggering 15 kilometers long, there is almost no stopping them. Fully equipped even with troop bays for an invasion force, they are the pride of the Harmonic Fleet. Understandably, however, there are only 20 in existence.[/hider]


Military organization, tactics and doctrine will come later in separate Hiders.